Cops press on in missing boy case despite setback

By Vikki Ortiz Healy | Tribune reporterMay 23, 2011

The realization that 6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen’s car booster seat was at his grandmother’s home -- and not with the persons in whom his mother said she had trusted his care -- was a setback in the investigation to find the missing boy, authorities said today.

But police continue to follow leads in the case and may conduct another search for the boy later this week.

Police considered the car seat a key piece of evidence that could have helped them find the Aurora boy, whom relatives last heard from on May 13, while he was with his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen.

A day later, Fry-Pitzen's body was found in a Rockford motel room, where she apparently had committed suicide. She left a note saying Timmothy was with adults she didn't identify. Police said the fact the car seat was not in Fry-Pitzen’s car initially led them to believe she had passed it along to those she said were caring for her son.

“We were pretty confident if we found the car seat, we think the boy would’ve been near with the car seat,” said Aurora police Lt. Pete Inda.Police said over the weekend that the boy’s grandmother told them she, in fact, had the booster seat.

Police on Monday continued to evaluate a search conducted last week in an area near Interstates 39 and 88, and are following tips that have come in since then in an attempt to identify a sharper focus for a follow-up search, possibly later this week, Inda said.